Perhaps we could create more clear and direct contests, where the two political sides could compete to do something good. For example, divide Detroit or Puerto Rico into two dozen regions, give each side the same financial budget, political power, and a random half of the regions to manage. Then let us see which side creates better regions.
You might think that the goal is to help the distressed people. Or to prove once and for all which party has better ideas. But the more modest goal is to let the two sides let off steam in less dangerous ways. Kind of like my father’s idea in the 1950s for solving the Cold War: turn it into a contest between the U.S. and the Soviet Union to see who could destroy Germany first.